Strabo, Geography, Horace Leonard Jones (Translator), 7.3.2

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[2] Now the Greeks used to suppose that the Getae were Thracians; and the Getae lived on either side the Ister, as did also the Mysi, these also being Thracians and identical with the people who are now called Moesi; from these Mysi sprang also the Mysi who now live between the Lydians and the Phrygians and Trojans. And the Phrygians themselves are Brigians, a Thracian tribe, as are also the Mygdonians, the Bebricians, the Medobithynians,¹ the Bithynians, and the Thynians, and, I think, also the Mariandynians. These peoples, to be sure, have all utterly quitted Europe, but the Mysi have remained there. And Poseidonius seems to me to be correct in his conjecture that Homer designates the Mysi in Europe (I mean those in Thrace) when he says,

“But back he turned his shining eyes, and looked far away towards the land of the horsetending Thracians, and of the Mysi, hand-to-hand fighters”

² for surely, if one should take Homer to mean the Mysi in Asia, the statement would not hang together. Indeed, when Zeus turns his eyes away from the Trojans towards the land of the Thracians, it would be the act of a man who confuses the continents and does not understand the poet’s phraseology to connect with Thrace the land of the Asiatic Mysi, who are not “far away,” but have a common boundary with the Troad and are situated behind it and on either side of it, and are separated from Thrace by the broad Hellespont; for “back he turned” generally³ means “to the rear,” and he who transfers his gaze from the Trojans to the people who are either in the rear of the Trojans or on their flanks, does indeed transfer his gaze rather far, but not at all “to the rear.”⁴ Again, the appended phrase⁵ is testimony to this very view, because the poet connected with the Mysi the “Hippemolgi” and “Galactophagi” and “Abii,” who are indeed the wagon-dwelling Scythians and Sarmatians. For at the present time these tribes, as well as the Bastarnian tribes, are mingled with the Thracians (more indeed with those outside the Ister, but also with those inside). And mingled with them are also the Celtic tribes—the Boii, the Scordisci, and the Taurisci. However, the Scordisci are by some called “Scordistae”; and the Taurisci are called also “Ligurisci”⁶ and “Tauristae.”⁷

Geography. Strabo. Horace Leonard Jones (Translator). London. 1924-1929.

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Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Perseus

Geography (Books 6-14) (English) (Strabo. The Geography of Strabo, Vols. 3-6. Jones, Horace Leonard, translator. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd., 1924-1929 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Γεωγραφικά Perseus (Strabo. Strabonis Geographica, Vols. 1-3. Meineke, August, editor. Leipzig: Teubner. 1877.) — 7.3.2 focus

[2] οἱ τοίνυν Ἕλληνες τοὺς Γέτας Θρᾷκας ὑπελάμβανον· ᾤκουν δʼ ἐφʼ ἑκάτερα τοῦ Ἴστρου καὶ οὗτοι καὶ οἱ Μυσοὶ Θρᾷκες ὄντες καὶ αὐτοὶ καὶ οὓς νῦν Μοισοὺς καλοῦσιν, ἀφʼ ὧν ὡρμήθησαν καὶ οἱ νῦν μεταξὺ Λυδῶν καὶ Φρυγῶν καὶ Τρώων οἰκοῦντες Μυσοί. καὶ αὐτοὶ δʼ οἱ Φρύγες Βρίγες εἰσί, Θρᾴκιόν τι ἔθνος, καθάπερ καὶ Μυγδόνες καὶ Βέβρυκες καὶ Μαιδοβιθυνοὶ καὶ Βιθυνοὶ καὶ Θυνοὶ, δοκῶ δὲ καὶ τοὺς Μαριανδυνούς. οὗτοι μὲν οὖν τελέως ἐκλελοίπασι πάντες τὴν Εὐρώπην, οἱ δὲ Μυσοὶ συνέμειναν. καὶ Ὅμηρον δʼ ὀρθῶς εἰκάζειν μοι δοκεῖ Ποσειδώνιος τοὺς ἐν τῇ Εὐρώπῃ Μυσοὺς κατονομάζειν (λέγω δὲ τοὺς ἐν τῇ Θρᾴκῃ) ὅταν φῇ

αὐτὸς δὲ πάλιν τρέπεν ὄσσε φαεινώ,

νόσφιν ἐφʼ ἱπποπόλων Θρῃκῶν καθορώμενος αἶαν

Μυσῶν τʼ ἀγχεμάχων.

¹ ἐπεὶ εἴ γε τοὺς κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν Μυσοὺς δέχοιτό τις, ἀπηρτημένος ἂν εἴη ὁ λόγος. τὸ γὰρ ἀπὸ τῶν Τρώων τρέψαντα τὴν ὅρασιν ἐπὶ τὴν Θρᾳκῶν γῆν συγκαταλέγειν ταύτῃ τὴν τῶν Μυσῶν, τῶν οὐ νόσφιν ὄντων ἀλλʼ ὁμόρων τῇ Τρῳάδι καὶ ὄπισθεν αὐτῆς ἱδρυμένων καὶ ἑκατέρωθεν, διειργομένων δʼ ἀπὸ τῆς Θρᾴκης πλατεῖ Ἑλλησπόντῳ, συγχέοντος ἂν εἴη τὰς ἠπείρους καὶ ἅμα τῆς φράσεως οὐκ ἀκούοντος. τὸ γὰρ πάλιν τρέπεν μάλιστα μέν ἐστιν εἰς τοὐπίσω· ὁ δʼ ἀπὸ τῶν Τρώων μεταφέρων τὴν ὄψιν ἐπὶ τοὺς μὴ ὄπισθεν αὐτῶν ἢ ἐκ πλαγίων ὄντας προσωτέρω μὲν μεταφέρει, εἰς τοὐπίσω δʼ οὐ πάνυ. καὶ τὸ ἐπιφερόμενον δʼ αὐτοῦ τούτου μαρτύριον, ὅτι τοὺς ἱππημολγοὺς καὶ γαλακτοφάγους καὶ ἀβίους συνῆψεν αὐτοῖς, οἵπερ εἰσὶν οἱ ἁμάξοικοι Σκύθαι καὶ Σαρμάται. καὶ γὰρ νῦν ἀναμέμικται ταῦτα τὰ ἔθνη τοῖς Θρᾳξὶ καὶ τὰ Βασταρνικά, μᾶλλον μὲν τοῖς ἐκτὸς Ἴστρου, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς ἐντός. τούτοις δὲ καὶ τὰ Κελτικά, οἵ τε Βόιοι καὶ Σκορδίσκοι καὶ Ταυρίσκοι. τοὺς δὲ Σκορδίσκους ἔνιοι Σκορδίστας καλοῦσι· καὶ τοὺς Ταυρίσκους δὲ Τευρίσκους καὶ Ταυρίστας φασί.

Translations (1)

Geography Perseus (Strabo. The Geography of Strabo, Vols. 1-3. Hamilton, Hans Claude, translator; Falconer, William, translator. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1854-1857.) — 7.3.2 focus

[2] The Greeks indeed considered the Getae to be Thracians. They occupied either bank of the Danube, as also did the Mysians, likewise a Thracian people, now called the Moesi, from whom are descended the Mysians, settled between the Lydians, the Phrygians, and the inhabitants of the Troad. Even the Phrygians themselves are the same as the Briges, a people of Thrace, as also are the Mygdones, the Bebryces, the Maedobithyni, the Bithyni, the Thyni, and, as I consider, also are the Mariandyni. All these people quitted Europe entirely, the Mysians alone remaining. Posidonius appears to me to have rightly conjectured that it is the Mysians of Europe (or as I should say of Thrace) that Homer designates when he says,

and his glorious eyes

Averting, on the land look’d down remote

Of the horse-breeding Thracians, of the bold

Close-fighting Mysian race. . . . ¹

Iliad xiii. 3. For if any one should understand them as the Mysians of Asia, the expression of the poet would not be fitting. For this would be, that having turned his eyes from the Trojans towards the land of the Thracians, he beheld at the same time the land of the Mysians, situated not far off from where he was, but conterminous with the Troad, rather behind it and on either side, but separated from Thrace by the breadth of the Hellespont.² This would be to confound the continents, and at the same time to disregard the form of the poet’s expression. For to turn his eyes again, is more especially to turn them behind him; but he who extends his vision from the Trojans to the people either behind them, or on either side of them, stretches his sight to a greater distance, but not in the least behind him. And this also is introduced as a proof of this very thing, that Homer classes with these the Hippemolgi,³ the Galactophagi,⁴ and the Abii,⁵ who are the Scythian Hamaxoeci⁶ and Sarmatians; for at this day, all these nations, as well as the Bastarnae, are mixed with the Thracians, more especially with those beyond the Danube, and some even with the Thracians on this side the Danube; also amongst these are the Keltic tribes of the Boii, Scordisci, and Taurisci. Some, indeed, call the Scordisci the Scordistae, and give to the Taurisci the names of Ligurisci⁷ and Tauristae.

Notes on the current edition

Geography

1. The correct spelling of the word is “Maedobithynians.”

2. Hom. Il. 13.3ff

3. The other meaning of the word in question ( πάλιν) is “again.” Aristarchus, the great Homeric scholar (fl. about 155 B.C.), quoted by Hesychius (s.v.), says that “generally the poet uses πάλιν in the place-sense and not, as we do, in the time-sense.”

4. i.e., “to the rear” of himself.

5. “And of the proud Hippemolgi (mare-milkers), Galactophagi (curd-eaters), and Abii ( a resourceless folk), men most just” Cp. 1. 1. 6.

6. “Ligursci” is almost certainly corrupt. Meineke is probably right in emending to “Teurisci.”

7. Cp. “Teuristae,” 7. 2. 2.

Strabo Geography 7.3.2

Horace Leonard Jones (Translator)

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